First White House Association

Twenty-seven ladies dedicated to preservation of the FWH founded the White House Association of Alabama on July 1, 1900. Patterned after the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, which had been formed in 1853 to save George Washington’s home, it was chartered on February 5, 1901, by an act of legislature for the sole purpose of preserving the First White House of the Confederacy.

Today, the White House Association is composed of ladies from over the state, who are related to the charter members or are otherwise connected with the House. The Regent is Mrs. J. Wallace Tidmore, Jr. who will remain Regent until her death or resignation. Each member is required to serve on at least one committee. Members meet twice a year.

The Association is the oldest historic preservation organization in the State of Alabama. Next to the venerable Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union (1853), the Ladies Hermitage Association (1889) and the Confederate Literary Society in Richmond (1890), the White House Association is one of the oldest historic preservation organizations in the United States dedicated solely to the preservation of a house museum.

Because Alabama state administrations come and go, the White House Association functions also as the institutional memory for the landmark. It works in equal partnership with the State, always striving for excellence and integrity in maintaining the First White House of the Confederacy as it appeared in the spring of Southern independence in 1861.